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If you haven’t read the Greyhawk family’s research on our favorite mental patient/IVAW member over at the Mudville Gazette, you still don’t know the whole story. They recount a scam in his pre-Rick Duncan days that landed him in mental health treatment and later led to his scamming of the anti-war movement.

UPDATE:Blackfive‘s Mr Wolf sends a Denver Post article that reports that Democrats are a little miffed at being fooled, too;

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else.

“His fraud is a slap in the face to veterans everywhere and a betrayal to us all,” Rep. Polis, a Boulder Democrat, said in a written statement Thursday.

His fraud was easily detectable, the Democrats just happened to be enamored with his message more than verifying who he was. They liked the fact that a gay veteran was willing to speak out for them – never mind that he’s not who he says he is. After all, the Democrats have always placed more importance on form over substance. Who cares if Duncan/Strandlof wasn’t a veteran – he had a uniform on while he said all of the pretty words they wanted to hear.

It’s the same reason that he was accepted into the IVAW and Vote Vets – he made a nice centerpiece and said everything they wanted him to say. Who cares if he was an empty suit.

Wait a minute; how could they dis-band such a large group (claimed 32,000 members state wide)over 1 person? I suspect that Ricky Duncan/Strandlof wasn’t the only one stretching the facts in that group. With a propensity to stretch facts to further their cause, I say it’s a good thing they folded, because it takes away from legitimate groups that are actually trying to help Veterans.

Yeah, things get a little dicey for elitist politicians when they realize that thier rhetoric mirrors the rantings of former mental patients.

They need hearings into this, even if just at the state level. Let’s take a look at why the Democrats failed to vet this guy. Joe the Plumber gets a proctological procedure because he disagrees with Obama, but the Dems (and the media) never looked into this guy’s history?

The Dems who let this guy speak for him weren’t defrauded, they were lazy.
I met with my (Democrat)Congressman this week for 2 minutes, after which I noticed a dozen hits on my blog that all came from the Congressman’s office. Yet Rep Polis and his staff want you to believe they didn’t spend even 5 minutes on Google to check the guy’s story and he was in a campaign ad?

Most likely because members from the group were outraged at being involved in Strandlof’s deception. He founded the group, he wasn’t simply a member/ED. Also, his name was on a lot of items of theirs, signature cards, etc. When a normal ED leaves, it’s not a big deal, there is passdown. I suspect that getting this guy to relinquish the keys to the kingdom would be impossible. I also imagine that the board members will probably attempt to reform a different organization using their membership rolls, inviting everyone to join the new organization.

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About thisainthell

We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »